Lucky Rabbit Foot
by merixthexninja
Summary: ZK. Zuko chases a white rabbit and runs smack into the Gaang. One thing leads to another and Katara is separated from her friends and must travel with Zuko and Iroh! Who is this FN general chasing them? Fun, insanity and a little bit of love. Complete
1. I Lucky Rabbit Foot

Hey people, this is a brief word from me. Lucky Rabbit Foot is going to be my first published fanfiction other than oneshots and poems. –cheers- Yup, I'm using my day off from school to get done some long-procrastinated school projects and type up a few stories. Go me! I'll try to post a new chapter or two every weekend, but no guarantees. Please, please, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease review!

Obviously, I don't own Avatar. Why? Because I don't think I could buy it with the little money I have in my bank account.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Chapter One: Lucky Rabbit Foot

Pain…Pain was the only thing he could feel. Sure, he could _feel _the ground underneath him. Zuko could _feel _the contrast between the cool shade of the trees and the brief splotches of sunshine that broke through. But he felt the pain in a different way, he felt it with every nerve and muscle and bone in his body. Somehow, Zuko got his mind to focus on even a little bit more than the overwhelming, stabbing, piercing pain to wrap it all up in four simple words.

"Damn it, I'm hungry!"

This statement was immediately proven by a rumbling gurgle from the boy's stomach. It seemed to echo off the trees and rocks around them. Iroh thought it sounded funny. Zuko thought it sounded like his stomach was eating itself.

His Uncle replied to his complaining in a calm voice, running his fingers through his gray-going-on-white beard. "We have no food, no money to buy food, and no way to catch food. If only I had a stream and a fishing pole…"

Up ahead on the trail Zuko caught sight of a small and white pile of fur nibbling on some green, leafy weed that was growing next to the path. Slowly a smirk formed on his lips as he held out a hand, silently signaling his Uncle to stand still. "No way to catch any food, huh?"

The black-haired boy took a stance, holding one arm out in front of him. He formed an L with his fingers, using them as a crosshairs, and took aim. The rabbit, sensing danger, looked up at him, wrinkling its nose in the air.

As soon as Zuko caught sight of black rabbit eyes staring into his own gold, he released a bolt of fiery red from his finger tips. It sizzled through the air and before you could even think about blinking nailed its target in its furry bunny leg. Before he could claim his prize and mean, however, the half-scorched hare took off into the woods as fast as a half-scorched hare could. Which, apparently, was pretty damn fast. The hunter took off at a sprint to chase after its prey, leaving the old man to stare after them in wonder and amusement.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Katara chugged down the last few gulps of water from her cup and sighed contentedly. They usually didn't stop for lunch, and instead just flew on Appa until late in the evening. Today, however, everyone had been hungry, so they'd stopped for a bit to eat a quick meal of bread, fruit, and dried meat. Eating while flying on Appa always made Katara nauseous.

Past the small, grassy clearing they had landed in there was only dense forest, as far as you could ever see. The sun over their heads shone bright and hot, dimming slightly whenever the occasional cloud would pass. The perfect beauty of it was almost mesmerizing.

The girl was shocked out of her thoughts as a small white rabbit came limping out of the woods and all but collapsed at her feet. Splotches of black and red marked its body, particularly badly around its leg. The others in the group came over to watch as the girl pulled out a canteen of water and formed her healing gloves. The water around her hands glowed with pale green luminance as she worked to heal her patient.

Minutes passed, and finally she withdrew her hands, the rabbit hopping away with a dazed and disturbed look on its face. Not a moment after she released the hare did the person she least expected come darting out from the trees. The boy skid to a stop, an incredulous look on his face.

Zuko glanced quickly back and forth from the Water Tribe girl to the Avatar behind her. He glared after the tail of the rabbit as the traumatized creature fled the scene before something even crazier happened to it. Both parties, equally surprised and for once synchronized, each blurted out the same thing in the same tone of disbelief.

"You!"


	2. II Fire Fight

After a bit of confusion on how exactly to upload multiple chapters to a story, here's Lucky Rabbit Foot Chapter Two. I estimate this story to be about thirty chapters, but I have no clue yet; let's see how close it comes to that estimate. Something I forgot to put in the first chapter's description, this story takes place in season two before Zuko Alone.

Yes! I own Avatar: The Last Airbender! And Zuko and Katara have wed, Ozai is dead, and Aang and Toph have eloped…-wakes up- Damn it, just a dream.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Chapter Two: Fire Fight

"You!"

As soon as the word left his mouth, Zuko shot a bolt of fire past Katara, straight at the Avatar. The Air bender, pulling out his staff and twirling it in circles like a baton, deflected the attack. The fire streaked upwards and through the treetops like a flare gun, sparks dancing through the sky.

All at once everyone was in motion. Katara was slinging water at Zuko in razor-sharp disks; incidentally the same water she had used to heal the rabbit. Aang and Zuko were locked in a heated battle; the older boy having to dodge slicing water attacks all the while. Toph, not having any clue who that strange fire boy was, stayed off towards the sidelines, only adding her element to deflect an occasional attack that looked like it might actually hit her comrades.

Club in hand, Sokka charged into battle, and was quickly defeated by Zuko, who hadn't even needed to use bending to beat the Water Tribe boy. After that Sokka stayed on the sidelines with Toph, grumbling all the while and cursing bending under his breath.

XOXOXOXOXOX

The forest creatures watched in horror as the red-coloured creatures moved through he path in a neat, disciplines formation. Thirty of the beasts moved in pairs along the path, forming two neat, uniform lines. At the front was a man who stood just a little taller than the rest, his gold eyes sparkling with both intelligence and malice. He was clothed from head to toe in black, red, and gold; a strong contrast to the soft browns and greens of the landscape.

This man sopped suddenly, holding out a hand signal; silently signaling his troops to halt. He peered around, narrowing his eyes. Unlike the rest of the men in his unit this man did not wear any mask. A strong nose and slanted eyes dominated his face. Light brown hair fell in pieces around his face like a frame. His tan skin had the smooth, flawless look of youth, and he couldn't have been older than twenty. At last he saw what he wanted, a red flare across the sky. Mouth set in a smug grin, he pointed in that direction and gave two silent hand signals to his troops, who then set off through the woods in a stealthy manner, barely making any sound at all.

The first hand sign was formed by holding his hand flat and vertical. This was part of a unique code devised by the Fire Nation army. This particular sign meant to go check a situation out. The second symbol, formed by holding the first and second fingers together straight in the air and the thumb perpendicular to them, meant to observe the standard rules in this kind of situation.

If enemies, kill. If of use to the Fire Nation, capture at all costs.

With this the young man departed himself, eager for action. There had been word of rebel forces in the area; he hoped it was them causing the commotion up ahead. He was in the mood to kill.


	3. III Run For Your Life

Chapter Three is up! Sorry, I wanted to write Chapter Four as well but I was so busy this week doing Ebay listings (my new job) and then the laundry was piling up and I wanted to fix some drawings before my friends looked at them… So yeah, just one chapter this week. But, hey, it's a longer chapter than the last two. Okay, here it is, I'll shut up now.

Chapter Three

Run For Your Life

Toph was the first to notice. Roughly thirty people were scattered around the perimeter of the clearing, hidden amongst the trees. They had seemed to appear out of nowhere, and what scared Toph the most was that, even though they were in such high numbers, they hadn't made a sound.

The girl, nudging the Water Tribe boy beside her, said in a hushed tone, "Sokka."

Before she had time to elaborate he responded dryly, "Yeah. I know." He adjusted his grip on his weapon, his body primed for battle. "We're surrounded."

The girl nodded slightly, trying not to be too conspicuous. "There's about thirty of them, mostly to the left end of the clearing. But there's one that's much closer than the others; he's the one we have to worry about. And he's," she paused for a second and then took a step forward. Raising her voice to a yell, she shouted, "He's about to attack!"

Not a second later a huge bolt of fire shot out from the forest. It skimmed across the ground, catching the grass on fire, and formed a wall of fire through the center of the clearing. On one side of the wall were Toph, Aang, Sokka, and Appa; on the other was Zuko and Katara.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Katara startled at the sound of her companion's voice. Toph had shouted something about someone attacking. Confused, Katara formed her water into a shield and positioned it between her and Zuko, thinking that is what Toph was warning her about. She nearly jumped when a wall of fire flared up from the ground and spread across the clearing, just missing her by a few feet. It shot straight towards Zuko and Aang, who were locked in a close-range battle. The two boys jumped backwards just in time to avoid it, the fire flaring up high and strong.

The wall now separated her and Aang.

"Aang!" she shouted, running towards the fire barrier. She had her water out, ready to attempt to break through the fire. A hand caught her own, halting her in her tracks, her water falling to the ground as she was pulled backwards. Aang's worried face was the last thing she saw before she was pulled away by her arm. She heard him shout her name, and then the shouts of many men dominated her hearing, drowning out even the crackling of the fire.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Iroh burst out of the cover of the forest. He had maybe a few seconds, then the area would be swarming with soldiers. He saw the Water girl running towards the fire wall, oblivious to the soldiers pouring out from the woods at the other end of the clearing. She'd be captured for sure.

Lightning quick, he grabbed her hand and pulled her away. Running back towards the cover of the woods, he grabbed his nephew's arm along the way and proceeded to lead both the teens away from the scene. Knowing his headstrong nephew, Zuko would have stayed and tried to fight off all the soldiers on his own. He wouldn't care if it was thirty on one or 300! He'd probably die trying to beat them all off.

Iroh ran, pulling along Katara with his left hand and Zuko with his right. Run now; worry about where they were going later.

About a thousand miles later, or so it felt to Iroh, Zuko, and Katara, did they finally stop running. Iroh let go of their arms and collapsed on the ground, leaning his back against a tree. Between huffs and puffs the man managed to ask them if they were all right. Bad choice.

Katara, kneeling on the ground, shouted her reply at him in outrage.

"No, I am not all right! Aang and them could be in trouble, what if they need me? How can I help them if I'm stuck in the woods with you two?!" With this she collapsed on the ground and tried to catch her breath.

Zuko, the only one not sprawled out on the ground, yelled something at her, which for the most part she couldn't hear over the sound of her racing heart beat and hard breathing. Why the hell was it so hot in the Earth Kingdom?

After that there was silence--a long, uncomfortable silence. When at last Katara found the strength to get up off the ground she sat there cross-legged, trying to come up with a plan of action. So far, she had nothing. Stay here with her crazy enemies that were not an hour ago trying to kill her, or go back to face the enemies that would still be trying to kill her? Her friends may not even still be there; they probably would've left on Appa. She was lost in thought for quite a while. When she at last looked up the old man was standing above her, holding a canteen.

"Water?" The man smiled a sincere, goofy smile. Katara found herself smiling back.

Taking the canteen from him she told the man, "Thanks." She took a long sip, savoring the coolness of the water as it ran down her parched throat.

She finished her drink and gave the canteen back to him, the man finishing off the rest of the water in it and plopping down to sit beside her.

"No problem. What is your name?"

She paused for a moment and then replied, "Katara. What's yours?"

The man stroked his beard. "Katara, hmm? That is a pretty name." The girl smiled at him. "I'm Iroh."

Katara was happy at a chance for good conversation and relaxed, brushing a stray strand of brown hair out of her face.

"So, where are you and Sunshine over there headed?" She gestured to Zuko who was off sulking under a tree.

Iroh laughed amusedly. "Sunshine huh? It suits my nephew well." They both giggled for a moment at Zuko's expense and then Iroh continued, answering her question. "No where in particular, just wandering."

Out of the corner of her eye Katara saw Zuko stalk off into the forest opposite the way they came from. She sent an inquisitive look to Iroh, the old man shrugging in reply.

"Perhaps he must take care of some private matters?"

As he said this the girl, blushing slightly, decided to change the topic.

"So," she began, her and Iroh resuming their conversation, what exactly was that back there? Fire benders attacking?"

Guessing that she meant the earlier incident, the old general tried to explain his Nation's war strategy to the girl, something he found quite hard to do without erasing her hope that the Avatar could ever restore peace to the land.

"You see," he started out, once again resuming the habit of running his fingers through his beard. "The Fire Nation has stationed small divisions of troops all around the areas it has conquered. These troops are mostly just to keep a strong hold on the villages under their control and to beat back any rebel forces. The Fire benders who attacked us were probably Fire Nation soldiers in one of these units." To his amazement the girl seemed to understand what he was saying.

Nodding her head in comprehension, Katara questioned a bit further. "But why were they attacking us? Err, well…" she stumbled, searching for the right words, "Because Aang is the Avatar, obviously. But I mean why were they attacking you and Zuko? Aren't you two Fire Nation royalty or something?"

Iroh visibly flinched at these last few words. "I suppose," he stated sadly, "we are no longer associated with the Fire Nation." He didn't want to tell the girl anything his nephew wouldn't want her to know and decided to leave it at that. Katara seemed to understand, because she dropped the subject.

After that the two talked about a lot of things. Katara talked a bit about her life at the South Pole, Iroh seeming especially interested in their culture. He told her old war stories from when he was a general. Each one steered clear of anything too personal and whatever their companions wouldn't want told, but they were quite open to each other despite their differences. After just about running out of things to talk about, they realized Zuko still wasn't back yet.

"My," Iroh said, getting up onto his feet with slight difficulty, "I hope my nephew hasn't abandoned us." Katara followed suit, standing up and brushing the dust and dirt off of her blue dress. "Would you mind helping me look for him, Katara?"

Truth be told, Katara had no interest in searching for the Fire bender. After seeing the worried expression on the man's face, however, she grudgingly agreed to the task. The pair set off in the direction the boy had gone, taking care to stay together.

Outside the forest the sun had been bright and hot, clearly a sunny afternoon of late Spring. Once underneath the dense canopy of trees, however, everything grew ten shades darker and noticeably cooler. Shadows danced around, creating fleeting illusions so that you had to look twice to make sure that what you were seeing was real.

Katara kept scaring herself by catching some shadow or tree out of the corner of her eye that she swore looked like some monster or enemy, but when she tried to catch a second glimpse it had vanished. One time she was so focused on trying to see which illusions were real and which were tricks of sight that she walked right into a spider web! She couldn't go on walking until Iroh had confirmed that there wasn't a spider on her head.

After a few minutes of walking Iroh really got worried about the whereabouts of his nephew, and after that began to call out his name every thirty seconds. Katara found his genuine concern endearing, and even began to hope that they found him soon.

Suddenly they heard a faint, muffled voice. The pair nearly jumped when they heard it, the girl was scared out of her wits and nearly tripped over a three root. The old man calmed her down after assuring her that it was Zuko's voice and not some shadow demon hiding in the trees. Of course, if it was Zuko, the two didn't see him anywhere.

Taking a few steps forward on the leaf-covered ground, Katara and Iroh looked around quizzically.

"Zuko? Where are you?"

Another step forward, and the ground fell out from under them in a flurry of leaves, yells, and flailing arms.

From the ground Katara sat up with difficulty, rubbing her knees that were scraped up and bruised from where she fell on them. Her eyes widened as the ground under her moved, and cried out in surprise as it pushed her off, yelling, "Get off me, you idiot!"

The ground, as it turned out, was Zuko.

Hastily apologizing, she picked herself up and looked at her surroundings. The three of them were standing, more or less, in a big hole. The floor was a few feet wide by a few more feet long, forming an odd rectangular shape. The walls were pretty much straight up, about ten feet so. By the perfect edges and corners, you could tell someone had dug out the hole. Then that someone had laid a net over the top and covered it with leaves, perfectly camouflaging the trap.

Zuko, Iroh, and Katara were in a bid, deep hole in the middle of the woods. And who ever had dug the trap was standing at the top and glaring down at them.


	4. IV Wind Rebels

This chapter was especially fun to write, I loved coming up with the new characters. I spent an hour or so looking up names by country on a baby name site; I ended up using names from Sanskrit, Persian, and Chinese languages. Then I spent another hour researching some different weapons for them to use. I came up with a bunch of cool stuff, and most of it was either used in martial arts or by ninja. And then I put the names and weapons together for each character and came up with a personality and background sketch for each of them; another half an hour. XD But I like how everyone turned out, I was trying really hard not to make any Mary Sues and I think I succeeded in making unique and loveable original characters. But, I'm sure you'd rather read Chapter Four than listen to me yammer on.

I think you folks know that I, obviously, don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Chapter Four

Wind Rebels

Three silhouettes stood at the top of the hole, glaring down at Katara, Zuko, and Iroh. In the little light of the forest Katara couldn't make out anything more than rough outlines. Each trio looked over the other, trying to decide if they were friends or enemies.

After a minute one of the figures above them said, "Maylin. Bring them up." It was a male voice, not especially deep but not the high-pitched sound of pre-adolescence boys.

At this another one of the strangers took a stance; Katara was instantly reminded of Toph—it was an Earthbending position. The bender raised their arms bringing the ground beneath the trio up from the bottom of the ditch to the hop, taking them up to ground level like an elevator. Before they had time to try anything, though, their hands were behind their backs and in handcuffs of rock and earth. These people knew what they were doing.

Now they all had a chance to get a good look at one another. Their mysterious captors turned out to be three kids; they were about Zuko's age. The first of the trio was a boy with dirty blonde hair that fell in chunks over his forehead. He looked the oldest; both because of the extra five inches he had over the others and the cool, self-controlled expression in his brown eyes. He noticed Katara looking at him and winked at the girl, giving her a sweet smile. The Waterbender didn't know whether to smile back or take offence, and merely blushed and looked away.

The next member of the group was a girl who stood at Katara's height. She was dressed in a tight-fitting black shirt and baggy tan pants. Her jet-black hair fell in strands to her waist. This girl was the one that Earthbended their cage, and although she looked sweet and unassuming, she had a dangerous air about her.

The last of the strange group was a black-haired boy. He looked younger than the blonde-haired one, but Katara was sure that he was the leader. His green eyes were slanted and focused, making him look both dangerous and appealing. He wore baggy green trousers that were slashed at the knees. His shirt was brown and sleeveless and was a bit longer than it should normally have been. Around his upper leg was a small pouch, secured around his leg with rope. At his waist was a sword in a green sheath, the same shade of green as his eyes. The way he glared at Katara, Zuko, and Iroh was a bit chilling, like he was deciding how to kill them. Katara didn't like this one at all.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Zuko looked the three over. They couldn't have been older than he was, but all three were heavily armed, even if most of their weapons were concealed. He, of course, could still tell that the weapons were there by the way the kids stood and the slight bulges in their clothing. The girl and the taller boy didn't look too dangerous, Zuko was sure he could take them both on if only he hadn't twisted his ankle when he fell. However, the other one—the boy with black hair—looked pissed off at seeing Zuko, and he didn't even bother to conceal the fact that he was armed.

After he had left his Uncle and the Water girl to go scout out the area, Zuko had fallen into their little booby trap and twisted his ankle in the fall. That was the only thing preventing him from Fire-bending himself up and out of the hole; he couldn't put any weight at all on his left leg. A few hours later he'd heard his Uncle yelling his name. He tried to yell to him that there was a trap, but his warning went unheard. The two idiots had fallen in, the Water girl landing right on top of him. The girl's hand had been extremely close to touching him in a very private place, too; if that had happened he would have had to kill her. Of course, he was just glad his Uncle hadn't been the one to land on him—that might have been fatal.

Now the three of them stood together, unable to try anything both because of the restraints and the apparent fact that the moment they went to move, the enemies would take them down. After a few minutes the boy with black hair turned around and started to walk away. The other two followed him, the Earthbender girl pulling them along by the hand restraints. Zuko was tempted to kill the three with a shot of fire to the back of their heads, but then they would be left trapped in their handcuffs for quite possibly forever. Not pleasant. The Firebender decided immediately that he did not like being restrained, he did not like feeling helpless, and he absolutely hated these kids.

The six of them traveled a short distance through the trees, maybe four or five minutes, and stopped at a seemingly random point in the forest. The only thing remarkable about it was one tall, burnt tree. The bark was charred and black, like someone had set it on fire. Since none of the other trees in the area were burnt at all, Zuko figured that whoever had set it on fire had done it deliberately and knew how to control the blaze.

The Earthbender girl stepped forwards, using her bending to lift the earth and reveal a set of stairs leading downwards. The two boys went in first, and then the girl ushered them inside and entered herself, bending the door closed behind her.

It was a tunnel inside, with lit torches hanging from the walls to light their way. The whole thing was reinforced with wooden beams, and the floor was smooth rock. The tunnel came into a larger room, which had several other tunnels branching out from it. Inside this room were tables with many candles on them and wooden benches, where another boy sat, playing some sort of tile game that looked like a variation of Pai Sho. Overhead was a flag hanging from the ceiling with the Earth Kingdom insignia on it. Upon noticing their arrival the boy stood up and walked over to them almost merrily.

The Earthbender girl trapped their feet to the rock floor and went to sit down on a nearby bench. The new boy had black hair similar to Zuko's and wore Earth Kingdom clothes.

"Hey, Taru!" Said the boy in a cheery voice, "Why'd you drag in these losers? We ain't got no use for 'um, right?"

His cheery voice confused Katara a bit, what the hell was he so glad about? Iroh was looking him over suspiciously, not at all fazed by his words or attitude. Needless to say, Zuko was pissed off at both his annoyingly peppy tone and being called a "loser". How he'd love to burn that stupid grin off his face.

The black-haired boy from earlier spoke now, earning a bit of respect from Zuko for his sharp tone.

"Shut up Arash, don't you know who this old man is?"

The cheery boy, Arash, replied in the same way he'd spoken before, unaffected by the harsh words of his companion. "Of course I do. That guy's the Dragon of the West."

Iroh seemed unsurprised at this, but Zuko and Katara were certainly a bit shocked. Zuko was nervous, if they knew who his Uncle was, would they make the connection that he was Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation? Even Katara had heard stories about the great Dragon of the West, but she would never have guessed that legendary war hero was Iroh!

"Exactly. Now wouldn't the Fire Nation pay any price to get their great Dragon back?"

"You mean the village," said the Earth girl, now interested in their conversation.

"Yes. Maylin, put them in a holding cell and watch them," the fierce boy with the green eyes ordered, sitting down on a bench.

Led by the black-haired girl, the three captives stumbled along once more, being led down another corridor by their bonds. This hall led into a small room, half of it being a barred-in cell. She opened the door to the cell and nudged them into it, locking the door behind them and sitting down in a small wooden chair in the opposite corner with a sigh.

"Sorry about my friends, they're just all a bit on edge." The girl smiled at them. "I'm Maylin."

Katara was a bit bewildered at the sudden friendliness, but Iroh answered with an immediately friendly response. "I am Iroh, and this is Zuko, my nephew." Zuko didn't say anything, but went to sit in the corner of the cell.

"I'm Katara," said the Waterbender, now more at ease since Iroh seemed all right with everything.

Maylin nodded, "Cool. The boy with the green eyes and attitude problem was Taru, our leader. The blonde guy was Binh; he's nice once you get to know him. And the happy kid was Arash. The four of us are the Wind Rebels."


	5. V A Chance at Freedom

I've been so busy this week, I actually only wrote this late Thursday night (today is Friday.) Yeah, I really had to stumble through the beginning here, but everything fell together towards the end, which was just smashing. Do you guys think I kept everyone in character? A side note, Lucky Rabbit Foot has over five hundred hits now, and you cannot imagine how overcome with happiness I am (picture a young girl climbing the walls Spiderman-style while jumping around performing random ninja moves.)

If I owned Avatar: The Last Airbender, I wouldn't have to put in this disclaimer.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Chapter Five

A Chance At Freedom

"The four of us are the Wind Rebels."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Wind Rebels? You guys are rebel fighters?" It was hard to believe that four kids could pose any major threat to the Fire Nation. Well, besides her own little group of her, Toph, Sokka and Aang—but of course they were only a major threat because Aang was the Avatar.

Maylin smiled. "Yup, you could say that. In fact," she said proudly, "We've already liberated three villages in the area from Fire Nation control."

Zuko, in the background, scoffed at this notion, apparently not at all impressed with the girl's boasts. Ignoring him, the girl continued telling them about their group.

"Taru and Binh started this group, actually. See," she explained to Iroh and Katara, who were listening intently, "Taru used to live with his family in a village a few miles from here. But when he was eight, the Fire Nation invaded his village. Everything was destroyed, and the survivors were forced to escape. During the raid Taru got separated from his parents, and shortly after Binh found him wandering alone through the woods. Binh promised Taru that they would find his parents."

She paused here, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her hair. "You could say that they formed this group, originally, in hopes that one of the villages that they liberated would have his family there. Either that, or to get revenge on the Fire Nation." She shrugged. "I'm not quite sure which applies more now."

Iroh, who had been listening with interest to her story, concluded, "What a fascinating history your group has. But why the name 'Wind Rebels'?"

"A long time ago there was a wise old man called the Wind Sage. It's said that he was a Master Earthbender, and wandered wherever the wind would take him, helping people he met along the way. That's kind of our group philosophy."

Iroh nodded, looking through the cell bars to the girl. "I have heard of this Wind Sage. The thing about him was his special style of Earthbending. Normal Earthbending, you see, takes strong, solid stances and techniques. The Wind Sage, his Earthbending was influenced by the Airbenders. Light, flowing movements and using only minimum strength to cause maximum damage. He believed in harmony amongst the elements; balance." The old man glanced at his nephew who was listening to their conversation silently in the corner. "He combined two opposite elements, in perfect harmony, and thus was undefeatable."

Katara marveled at this. Two opposite elements? She remembered how hard of a time Aang was having mastering his opposite element, Earthbending.

Zuko wasn't surprised that his uncle knew about that old sage. He was always lecturing him on how the four elements were in balance, and to learn from the other bending forms and stuff. He himself would rather just focus on Firebending. All that Four Elements talk was Avatar stuff. Besides, he was still hungry.

"Hey," said the Firebender, speaking up for the first time since their capture. "Do you think we could get some food?" It was more of a demand than a question.

At first it looked like she wouldn't but when the girl heard his stomach gurgle loudly she giggled and agreed that they could use some food. "Okay, I'll be right back. But don't try anything; if you guys cause any trouble I'm going to get blamed for not watching you better."

"Sure thing!" Iroh said with a smile.

Maylin left the room, heading back down he hallway they had come in from. When she was out of earshot Zuko glared at his uncle.

"What do you think you're doing?" Zuko argued angrily, "Agreeing to stay put? We're prisoners! If we just wait around here, they're going to trade us off with the Fire Nation. We should be escaping, not having a conversation with the enemy!"

After a short moment of harsh silence Katara agreed softly, "I think Zuko's right. We need to get out of here. I want to get back to my friends, not be stuck here in their prison."

The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Just wait. I'm certainly not being traded off to the Fire Nation, but we have to wait for the right opportunity. We mustn't underestimate our enemies."

This last comment was aimed at Zuko, who sat back with a huff. A few minutes later Maylin came back. In her arms were a few loaves of bread, several small fruits, and a pitcher of water. She set the pitcher on the floor next to the cell door and, holding the rest precariously in her arms, grabbed a key from her pocket. Quickly she unlocked the door and slid it open, handed the food and water over to Katara and Iroh, and slid the door closed, locking it back up and returning the key to her pocket.

"I have to go, but I'll be back in awhile to get your dishes." Then the girl departed, heading back out through the corridor.

Katara handed a loaf of bread and some of the fruit to Zuko, who was still leaning against the wall in the corner. Zuko and Iroh practically inhaled their portions, and Katara offered them her untouched bread.

"I'm not really that hungry, do you guys want my bread?"

Iroh grinned. "I'd love it, if you are sure you don't want it." Katara nodded and split the roll in two, giving the man half and the other half of it to Zuko.

"No, all I really want is the water." The girl bended most of the water out of the pitcher and filled her empty canteen. "All my bending water got used up. It might come in handy when we get out of this place."

"That's a good idea," said the old man, "We should be prepared."

An hour or so later Maylin came back. She looked a bit nervous, and her long black hair was tied back with a ribbon. Iroh tried to say something to her about whether they would be spending the night here, but the girl only answered back with an unidentifiable expression and a silence. She sat down in a chair on the other side of the room and fidgeted all the while she was there, forgetting to take their dishes. None of hem said anything about it; she looked nervous enough.

After a long uncomfortable silence in the small room a loud, thunderous boom like an explosion surprised them. The whole complex shook like an earthquake for a moment. Maylin jumped up form her seat with a gasp and ran back down the corridor without a word of explanation to the three captives.

Iroh stood up, stating assuredly, "It's time."

Katara was lost. "Time for what? What was that explosion?"

"I don't know what it was, but now is our chance to escape."

The girl stood up, anxious to get out of their prison. "Right!" Whipping the water from her canteen, she took a stance. "Let me cut the bars."

Quickly she bended her water back and for the across the bars in razor-sharp slashes, slicing away at the rock. After a minute she had the first bar cut through, and it dropped to the floor noisily.

Iroh looked over to his nephew who was still on the floor in the corner. "Zuko!" He said harshly, "Come on!" By this time Katara had her second bar done and was halfway through the third.

The boy cautiously tried to stand up, leaning against the wall for support. Slowly he rose to his feet, but when he tried to take a step forward he fell to his knees with a pained expression. Katara momentarily stopped and looked over to him.

"I twisted my ankle when I fell into their trap," he explained in an embarrassed voice. "I don't think I can walk on it."

The girl walked over to him, bending her water back into her canteen. "I think I can help, which one is it?"

"My left ankle. But what are you going to do?"

She rolled the bottom of his pants up a bit and pulled out her water, forming it around her hands. "Heal it."

XOXOXOXOXOX

He watched as the Waterbender knelt beside him. She moved the leg of his pants up a bit and looked at his ankle. The girl wrapped her water around her hands, glowing with a pale green light.

"Heal it."

Zuko was a bit confused at how she planned to do that with some glowing water, but once she touched his leg he understood. A cool sensation spread from her touch, dulling the pain away. It felt pleasant, like a massage, and when she finished his ankle didn't hurt at all.

She stood up and held out a hand for him. He took it, the girl helping him to stand, and cautiously he put a little weight on his left leg. To his surprise he could put his entire weight on it without discomfort and had no problem walking. He found himself wishing that he had asked her to do that sooner.

"Better?" She asked, looking curiously at him.

Feeling a bit embarrassed at needing her help, Zuko muttered his reply. "Yes. Thank you."

Hearing this Katara smiled and went back to cutting through the bars. At last she cut through the last one needed and he three stepped out through he hole she had made.

"All right, let's get out of here!"


	6. VI The Plan, Failed!

Sorry for the delay, guys, but I had a little trouble working out a few plot holes. Sorry, no Zutara action this round, but I had to get the plot out of the way. So, what was that explosion? Who is that Fire Nation colonel? Well, here are the answers to your questions in Chapter Six. As always, please read and review. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Six

The Plan, Failed!

"Do you really think this will work? Trading the old man off for the village?" It seemed like Arash couldn't say anything, no matter how serious a matter it was, unless it was said in an amused, joking tone.

Taru said stiffly, "It will." His green eyes narrowed, "It has to." If this didn't work, he might never be able to see her again. Sumi, trapped in that village with all those Fire Nation soldiers.

Binh seemed to understand that. "Of course the plan will work." His trademark smile, "Don't worry about it."

Maylin came back out into the main room and took a seat on the bench next to Arash. She had just come back from giving the three prisoners some food. Taru honestly didn't know why she cared so much for others; it wasn't a trait befitting a rebel fighter.

Taru stood up suddenly, annoyed at something, perhaps at the direction the conversation was headed. He turned his back to the other three and left, striding down the hallway towards an exit. "I'm going to take a walk," he said almost coldly. As quickly as he had said that, the boy was out of sight; leaving the others to discuss the plan amongst themselves. They weren't bothered by their companion's icy disposition, they were quite used to it by now. They'd had years to adjust to him.

XOXOXOXOXOX

The breeze blew about his stringy black hair; the boy didn't bother to brush it out of his face. Taru had only gone a short distance away from headquarters; then he had stopped to watch the strange sights. The breeze, usually a cool relief from the oppressive summer heat, burned hot like fire. Bits of ash swirled about through the air and the faint scent of smoke lingered, carried on that hot breeze. It might have merely been a forest fire; they hadn't had any rain in a few weeks and a fire was entirely possible. But there was another possibility, another explanation of this unusual thing; a possibility that had to be looked into further before he could brush the gut feeling aside.

The boy set off into the woods as silently as he could, his jade eyes combing the forest for any signs of an enemy unit. Stealth and reconnaissance wasn't his thing really; that was Maylin's specialty. But at last he saw what he had been looking for—a sharp glint of steel among the soft neutral colours of the trees. Parting aside a leafy shrub, he grabbed the object and examined it. A knife—simple in its design and fairly standard style for combat. Medium sized and soft gray in colour, but new-looking and deadly sharp. On the hilt was all the evidence Taru needed to be instantly put on guard—a small red flame carved into the guard, the Fire Nation insignia.

First they capture the Dragon of the West and now they might battle an enemy army; what an incredible day. Arash would be pleased, the boy hadn't seen much action in these past few months, and that kid loved to fight. He was insatiable in his need for excitement, that weirdo actually liked battling for his life. Taru didn't mind the action, but he appreciated his peace and quiet. Arash liked things noisy and chaotic; not a guy you'd want to fight against.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Besides Maylin, Taru was the only other group member that could Earthbend. Of course, the boy wasn't nearly as skilled as she was; he'd never had much talent for it and preferred conventional weapons anyway. He did master it just enough to be able to open and close the secret entrances to their headquarters, though, and could come and go as he pleased, where-as Binh and Arash had to get Maylin or Taru to bend the entrances for them, or else use the tunnel that led up towards the mountains, which was kind of a long walk. So when their leader returned from his walk none of the others needed to let him inside and could stay seated on the ash-gray benches. The three had been playing a game of cards and now cleared them quickly as the returning boy stabbed a knife into the wood tabletop.

"Look what I just found," he announced, pausing to let the others get a good look. "It seems we have company in the area."

Maylin fidgeted nervously when she saw the insignia on the knife. Firebenders were the worst to fight; they made the air so hot and dry that you couldn't even breathe. She hated feeling too hot; she'd rather freeze into a block of ice than sweat. Besides that, the Firebenders were just plain scary. She'd only ever met one Firebender that had been a nice guy, even if he was permanently hyper.

Binh, always the strategist, asked Taru, "Do you know how many men they have? Their position?"

The boy shook his head a little. "No, it's too dangerous to try to get close enough to count their number. As for their position," he told them, "Close. Very close. Be on guard, all of you."

"What should we do," asked Maylin tentatively, shaking slightly but trying to look brave. "I mean, are they here for those three? To take them back?"

"Calm down, May," whispered Arash in her ear. They were sitting next to each other on the opposite side of the table from the other two. "Don't worry. No matter what happens, you're safe with me."

She relaxed and took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sign. "Thanks," she whispered back. "I know nothing bad can happen if you're on our side."

Ignoring those two, Taru continued, his voice clear and showing no emotion—neither fear nor bravado. "I don't know if they are here because of the Dragon or if they're just moving to a new location. Either way," he said, eyes sparkling with the fire of the torches that lit the room, "We won't let them past our woods!"

Everyone smiled proudly at this. They knew by his tone that he had a plan.

"What are you planning to do?" asked Binh coolly, even though he probably already knew the answer.

"Simple," replied Taru casually. "An ambush."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Taru's plan for an ambush, as it turned out, was quite similar to the hole they'd used to catch the great Dragon of the West. The boy had really only made several strategically placed ditches in the ground using his limited Earthbending skills. Then they had once again camouflaged it with leaves, doing a flawless job of blending it in with the rest of the forest floor, and taken up a hiding spot a few hundred feet away to watch and wait. Unlike the earlier trap, however, they wouldn't be taking prisoners. It would be more like shooting fish in a barrel.

They'd left Maylin to watch the three prisoners back at headquarters. If anything happened, if the plan should fail, she could handle it until they got back. Despite what she looked, she was a very capable fighter. Even if she couldn't defeat the whole enemy unit, she would probably be able to hold them off long enough for Taru, Binh, and Arash to get back. The four of them together shouldn't have a problem with defeating any enemy.

The three boys knelt down in the cover of the bushes. Taru was alert, carefully watching for any signs of the enemy. Binh was cutting the bark from a stick with his knife, clearly bored of sitting around and waiting. Arash had found a bug and was now playing with it, letting it crawl from one hand to the other. He, of course, wasn't paying any attention at all.

Hearing the sharp snap of a twig Taru tensed, elbowing the blonde-haired boy beside him. The two watched carefully as a man in a red uniform emerged from the trees. Behind him came the rest of the miniature army, more men than the Rebels had expected but not too many to handle. They marched straight toward the trap, but when the first soldier held out a hand, they all stopped—not five feet from it. The first man took a step forward and knelt down right next to the edge. He picked up a handful of leaves, revealing the thin green net that lay across the hole.

"Tch," he scoffed, "Child's play."

The man then grabbed the net and yanked it off, the leaves piled atop it scattering about and falling down into the hole. He then glared around, combing the forest for the ones who had made the trap. The Rebels, from their hiding spot, froze in place, their breath caught in their throats. A tense minute passed and at last the Fire Nation army moved out at the direction of the man without a mask, marching around the booby trap. They passed from sight and for a long while afterwards the three boys didn't move. At long last Taru spoke, breaking the silence.

"Damn it!" He swore, standing up quickly and moving out of the bush into the open. "How could they tell it was there?!"

The other two walked out of their hiding spot and stood beside him. Another silence and then Binh spoke, obviously disappointed at the failure but thinking ahead of it. "They know that they aren't alone out here, now," he said, mainly to Taru, as Arash wasn't much of a plan guy. "They'll be on guard now, another ambush is out of the question."

"Yeah," the green-eyed boy responded aggravated, "And they'll be looking for us." The blonde nodded, trying to think of something positive to say but unable to find anything.

"Then," added Arash, "Shouldn't we get back to Maylin?"

Taru sighed, "Yeah, we should." However, it was another minute before anyone moved. When at last they did, the boys walked with the heavy burden of defeat.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Colonel Hajari frowned at he near task dumped onto his lap. He wanted his top priority to be finding the two Fire Nation traitors he'd seen fleeing from his attack on the Avatar, but now it looked as if he'd have to put that aside in order to locate the rebels and destroy them. Their little booby trap, although easy enough to avoid, was proof that they were close by. Of course he had to follow his orders of eliminating anything that could cause problems for the Fire Nation before he could attend to any personal matters. The bounty for the capture of the two traitors would have to wait until after the rebels were dealt with. But where were they hiding?

As he walked Hajari scanned the trees for anything suspicious. He'd dispatched five of his men to scout out the area in hopes that they would find something. The rest of his men followed in formation behind him, two neat columns of red with white masks.

Suddenly he heard a shout and turned to see one of the men he'd sent out as a scout come running up to him. "Sir!" He reported in the monotone voice of a soldier, "I've found something that you need to see, about seven hundred yards East of here!"

Hajari smirked. "Very good, private. Show me."

Obediently the man led the others through the trees, and when they reached their destination he stopped, saluted, and fell back into formation among the other soldiers. The colonel glared at the sight before him; a single brunt tree in the middle of the forest. It was obviously some sort of marker, but for what? He looked around closely at the surroundings, and at last his eyes came to rest on a bare line of dirt across the ground where no grass grew.

Taking a few steps back, he ordered a few of the men to join him. They all took a stance and, at the count of three, unleashed a powerful and massive ball of fire at the ground where there wasn't any grass. The attacks combined together and hit at the same time, the total force of it exploding in a blast of flames that blew the ground away there. As the smoke cleared they saw a set of stairs leading down into a tunnel that was lit with torches. At Hajari's order the soldiers descended into the entrance and then he went as well, a smug smirk on his face.

"Too easy."


	7. VII Escape

Chapter Seven

Escape

"Shit! Did your guys hear that?"

"Of course I did," said Binh to his leader, "It was loud enough to wake the dead!"

The three boys were running back to headquarters, weaving past trees and jumping over fallen logs.

"It sounded like an explosion!" shouted Arash, "Do you think Maylin is okay?"

"She's probably just fine," answered Taru calmly. "She can handle it."

"I hope so…"

They were breathing pretty heavily by the time they reached the burnt tree that marked the East entrance to their hideout. The tree was about the only thing left, the ground was gone around the entrance; dirt scattered around on the grass as if it had rained from the sky. On the freshly turned soil were the footprints of at least twenty different men, leading down the stairs and through the corridor.

"Let's hurry!"

XOXOXOXOXOX

Katara cautiously peeked around the corner of the corridor. Fire Nation troops were everywhere, menacing red figures storming the compound; sneaking past all of them was quite a task. Of course they could probably take at least a few of the soldiers out, but they had to get out without being noticed. The last thing they needed right now was to have thirty enemies after the three of them. The girl looked around for the exit and found it at last, luckily not in the way of any Firebenders. Well, at least she hoped it was the exit; all the hallways here looked the same to her. She turned around to Iroh and Zuko.

"All clear, let's go!"

The three rushed out of their cover and crossed the room toward the exit, luckily without attracting the attention of any Firebenders. They didn't know where that army had come from, but the Rebels were all there and fighting ferociously against the invasion. However, at this point there was no telling who would win, they both looked evenly matched.

Katara snuck down the hallway, watching out for any enemies that might try to stop them. Iroh followed closely behind her, equally alert. The last member of their little group, Zuko, hung back a few yards, as if he was sulking in his own way. He'd been like this since Katara had healed his ankle; she didn't know what on Earth was wrong with him. Was he angry or something that she was the one who broke them out? Well, it didn't matter wheat he thought of her, it wasn't as if hey were going to stay together after this. She would much rather be with her friends and brother than stuck with a moody Firebender. Heck, she'd rather be at the bottom of the ocean than be with him!

All of that was after the three escaped from here, though. For now, they had to work together to find their way out of this labyrinth, without getting burnt to a crisp by Firebenders. They ran down the torch-lit hall and came to a fork. They all stopped and stood together, looking down each way as far as they could.

"Which way should we go?" Katara asked the old man beside her.

"I don't know," responded Iroh, "They both look the same to me.

Zuko turned around, listening to the distant sound of approaching footsteps. "Well, you'd better decide; we don't have time to stand here!"

"Let's go left!" Katara said confidently.

Not knowing which way any better than she did, both men agreed and the group ran down the left hallway. They got to the end and it came into a room where several Firebenders were fighting one of the Rebels. Upon their entering, one of the soldiers turned and fired an attack at them.

"Right, I meant! Let's go right!"

They turned on their heels and ran back the other way, Zuko turning around while he ran to send the fire attack back to where it came.

The other path turned and twisted several times, but finally did it come to a real exit. Of course, this was blocked by several fierce-looking soldiers locked in battle with the Rebel leader. Katara stopped, about to turn back, but Zuko stepped forward confidently.

"We're going to break through."

"What?" She said, confusion spreading into her voice. "The point of escaping is to not get caught again! Now you want to pick a fight with the enemy!"

"Ugh, just watch," he grumbled. "Uncle, give me a hand. Girl, follow behind us. You'd better keep up, because I won't go back for you!"

The two Firebenders stood side by side, and at the count of three sprinted forwards straight at the enemy blockage. They bended their fire around them, forming a flaming human cannonball. Katara ran behind them, being careful not to touch any of the fire. Seeing the two Firebenders come running at them kamikaze style, the soldiers quickly parted and pressed against the wall to get out of their way. The two cannonballs, wrapped in fire, broke though with the Waterbender in tow. The girl looked back into the eyes of shocked soldiers and a very, very angry Taru. He looked like he was going to come after them, but as the battle resumed the boy didn't have the chance. They ran out the tunnel and up the stairs into the bright sunlight above.

Katara sighed in relief and took a deep breath of fresh air. Damn, it felt good to be free.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Author's Note

This is the last chapter in the Wind Rebel story line, and to be quite honest I'm not sure what I'll make happen next, but I have a few ideas. I've got two drawings up on Deviant now, one Zutara picture and a sketch of the Wind Rebels. If you're interested, my username is merixthexninja at 


	8. VIII A Night's Refuge

If I owned Avatar: The Last Airbender, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction for it.

Chapter Eight

A Night's Refuge

They hadn't realized just how far the underground tunnels had led them until the three were out in the open. Once they had gone a good distance so that they could be safe, Zuko, Katara, and Iroh finally got a chance to take a good look around. The scenery was beautiful. Two or three different types of trees mixed together to form a forest of tall, deep green. However, the trees were more spread out than before, making the space seem more open and letting more of the sunshine through the treetops. The ground was uneven, sloping upwards gently in front of them and growing gradually into a tree-covered mountain, where at the very top the green trees gave way to white snow. Other mountains clustered together in the distance, forming a mountain chain that spread out over miles, the most distant peaks shrouded in blue haze.

Unable to go back, the trio moved forwards toward the closest mountain. There, they could find some shelter and hide themselves for the enemies that had just escaped. After all that had happened that day, they could certainly use a good night's rest. Finding Aang and them, Katara decided, could wait until tomorrow.

The forest had a creepily peaceful silence to it, a harsh contrast to the chaos of not an hour ago. The trees were some of the tallest they'd ever seen, and wider around than your arm span. They looked like monks, Katara decided. A thousand monk giants with green hoods, standing together in prayer.

With every step the brown leaves beneath them, built up over decades of autumns, crunched, making them sound like an army marching through the forest. Their little army of three marched past tree after never-ending tree in hypnotizing motion. It didn't seem like they had made any progress at all, but they soon got high enough up the incline to see the base of the mountain up close. Iroh spoke, capturing the attentions of Zuko and Katara.

"Look," he pointed to a dark spot on the side of the mountain, fairly low and not too far away. "There's a cave, perhaps we could rest for the night."

"Sounds good to me," agreed Katara enthusiastically. "I'm beat."

The cave turned out to be further away than they had thought, so twenty minutes later the three stood at last at the entrance. It was fairly roomy inside, but with a low ceiling that was maybe eight feet high, which gave it all a cozy effect. The walls were blue-gray stone carved right out of the mountain's base. It was dark inside; the walls were mostly covered in shadows, except for the areas closest to the mouth of the cave. Even though they weren't very high up, Katara shivered with the difference in temperature. It had to be at least ten degrees cooler here than from the forest earlier.

After examining the cave and approving it to be the night's shelter, the old man walked back to the exit. "I'm going to go get some firewood," Iroh said. Good humouredly, he joked, "Don't you two go running off anywhere while I'm gone." He exited the cave and began walking over to the nearest patch of woods, chuckling to himself all the while.

The two teenagers stared after him as he left, and once he was out of sight they looked at each other for the first time. Their eyes locked for a fraction of a second, and then thy both turned to look at the stone wall. Katara walked over to the side opposite Zuko, which was only about ten feet away, and sat down on the floor against the cave wall, smoothing out her blue dress. Zuko sat down with a huff, folding his arms across his chest and staring outside.

After a minute Katara spoke up. "Hey," she said to the boy sitting across from her, "Is your ankle okay now? It doesn't hurt, does it?"

He sighed, that girl was so annoying, having to break his thoughts like that. "It's fine," he replied perhaps a little too sharply. When he saw her smile drop, Zuko softened his tone. "It feels great, thank you for healing it." He didn't know why he cared whether she thought he was rude or not, she probably hated him anyway.

She smiled hearing that. "You're welcome. You've just been so quiet, I thought perhaps it was still hurting you."

When he didn't reply to that, Katara said, "This cave is kind of scary. I wonder if any animals ever come in here."

"It isn't scary. Once the fire gets going, it will all be lit up."

"I know," exclaimed the girl happily. "We should go cave exploring! What do they call it, splunting? We should go splunting."

He looked at her amusedly. "'It's spelunking'," he laughed. "Besides, this cave isn't big enough for that. How can you explore what you can already see?" She's like a child, he thought to himself. But a funny kid.

Iroh heard their laughter as he approached their temporary shelter with an armful of firewood. He smiled to himself; it was nice to hear his nephew in a good mood for once. More astounding, the Water Tribe girl wasn't in tears. He worried about leaving her alone with Zuko's temper, but it looked like things had gone well. The old man entered the cave smiling and walked with a happy bounce to his step.

"I'm back," he announced. He set the wood down in a pile off to the side, taking a few sticks to start a fire with in the middle. "This should be enough firewood for the night, but we'll need some more for the morning if we want a hot breakfast," he said as he lit a fire with a snap of his fingers.

Instantly the walls were lit up brightly, revealing many small paintings decorating the cave walls. On each side were pictures of animals and people; painted on the ceiling were stars, with a bright moon in the center, forming a breathtaking picture of the night sky. Lights from the fire flickered across, making the sight even more enchanting.

"Oh," gasped Katara. The girl stood up and turned around to look at the numerous paintings of elk and bears and some animals she'd never even seen before. "What are these?"

Iroh examined the walls closely, looking at the simple figures of hunters wielding spears, surrounding some giant beast that no one alive today had ever seen. "These are probably hundreds of years old. Maybe thousands. Look at these animals, most of them are extinct today."

Even Zuko couldn't resist looking at the strange paintings in black and red that circled around the walls. That ceiling painting is amazing, he thought to himself. They made it look so real.

"Hey!" The sudden shout made the three jump in surprise. As they turned to look, just outside the cave stood a small group of people dressed in shabby green and tan Earth Kingdom clothes. "What do you think you're doing," yelled a middle-aged man at the head of the group. Behind him hid a small girl of three years in a green dress. When she looked at Zuko she made a frightened face and put her small hands over her eyes, ducking out of sight. Other people stood together behind them; dressed similarly and with fearful, cautious eyes.

Zuko and Iroh exchanged a look. _Now that have we gotten ourselves into?_

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Sorry about that," laughed the man, his braided black hair swinging back and forth behind him as he led Zuko, Iroh, and Katara along the forest path. "That cave was a temple that our ancestors built," he explained. It seemed like he was only talking to Iroh, who walked beside him. "We're always concerned about vandals going in there. When kids see paintings on the walls, they want to add their own. Monkey see, monkey do."

The other peasants walked behind them on the path, whispering to each other excitedly. Zuko looked back at them and they stopped talking, adverting their eyes to look at the passing trees or the ground in front of them. As soon as the boy turned back around, their conversation started up again.

"The village is just ahead," the man said to Iroh. And, indeed, when they passed the next little bend on the path, the forest opened up into a giant open space.

A small village was tucked away into the side of the mountains, as if it were carved out of the rocks themselves. Vast fields were visible in the distance, with the small dots of villagers speckled throughout the green, tending to the crops. Little streams criss-crossed through the fields and led to a lake, as part of some irrigation system. However, the three newcomers didn't notice any of that, because the first thing anyone could see was an enormous wooden fence surrounding the village. The eight-foot-tall wooden posts spanned the perimeter of the village that wasn't already blocked off by mountain. Huge gates were positioned systematically throughout the length of it, so the farmers could get in and out of the town from the fields. It was in front of one of these gates that they stood now.

On the inside of the fence was a tall tower with a small floor near the top, where a young man stood. When he noticed the group's arrival, he waved enthusiastically and climbed down quickly, swinging from beam to beam so that he resembled a monkey. From the inside a loud click was heard and the gates swung open, displaying the small but impressive village.

The man next to Iroh smiled proudly. "Welcome to our village."

Ornate buildings, made in the old style, spread out over a quarter mile. Small stone pathways weaved through the town, connecting everything to everything else. At the center all the paths merged into one that led to the front steps of a large, rectangular building. A few people went into it, about at the same rate of people going out. A flat, polished stone stood upright in the garden in front of it.

"I know it's not much," he said, "But you're welcome to spend the night. There's an extra room at my place where you can stay."

"Well, that's a lot better than staying the night in a cave," chuckled Iroh in reply. "We graciously accept the hospitality."

They followed the man up one of the stone paths while they talked. The little girl from earlier walked by his side, clutching the bottom of the man's shirt. "Sure thing," he said. "You can call me Johta, and this is my daughter, Momo."

Momo. Katara nearly tripped when she heard that. It hadn't even been a day since she last saw them, but she missed her friends so much that she couldn't stand it. Now waves of worry hit her. Where were they? Were they okay? She wondered if they were looking for her right now. She should be looking for them, too, not making arrangements for the night. Maybe one of the villagers had seen Aang and them pass by? A giant flying bison was pretty hard to miss. As soon as she got the chance, she'd have to ask around.

"Your daughter is so cute," complimented Iroh. The little girl giggled, but still hid at her father's side. "I am Iroh, and this is Zuko, my nephew."

Johta smiled. "I see, and is this young lady your nephew's wife?"

The two teenagers stopped dead in their tracks, shocked at the comment. Synchronized, they both shouted, "No!!"

The man looked at them with wide eyes, surprised by the sudden outburst. "Oh," he said uncertainly. "I see."

After that the group resumed walking, Zuko noticeably a few steps behind. The two men at the front resumed their conversation with the usual questions of, "So, where are you headed? What are you traveling for? Do you come from this area?"

Bored and annoyed, he looked at the scenery of the village. Most of the houses were nice and up kept. A few peasants rushed here and there, finishing some last-minute errands for the day. No one looked especially interesting or important, just filthy village folk that had probably been here their whole lives. The boy also noticed that the crowd of villagers that had been with them before had dispersed into the town, leaving just him, Uncle, the man and his daughter, and that Waterbender.

After another minute the group stopped in front of a tan house that was just a little bigger than the rest.

"Welcome home," said a bright-looking woman with wavy black hair who appeared in the doorway. Seeing Zuko, Iroh, and Katara, she perked up. "Oh. I see we have company tonight."

She and Johta exchanged a quick hug. "Yes. This is Iroh; he'll be spending the night with us. And these two are Zuko and Katara, some relatives of his."

"Well," she said, smiling, "Do come in and make yourself at home." With that the woman led them inside to the kitchen, where everyone but her sat around a large square table while she rushed around the kitchen gathering up various things from the cabinets.

The inside of the house was fairly big, decorated exquisitely with painted vases and odd knick-knacks, which of course Iroh adored.

"This is my wife, Ming," said Johta. "It seems my daughter has run off again."

Katara looked around the table. It was true; the little girl had snuck away without her noticing.

"Tea is served," said Ming as she placed a tray of tea on the table that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. Everyone grabbed a cup and sipped at it, the adults starting a conversation.

Johta told his wife, "These are the ones Hoda saw in the ancestral caves. Remember how he came running back to the village in such a hurry?" The couple laughed at this memory, "I thought he was going to pass out from how hard he was breathing."

Iroh took a cautious sip of the tea and smiled approvingly. "This is some fine tea," he said. "What kind is it? It tastes like Jasmine, only sweeter."

"I'm glad you like it," said the woman, still cooking something. "It's a special kind of tea that only grows in this village, called Okala."

"It's quite good, perhaps I will take some with me before I leave."

"I could prepare you a bag of it, if you would like."

"Oh, that would be lovely, thank you," Iroh replied graciously, taking another sip from his half-emptied teacup.

All this talk of tea boring him half to death, Zuko was about ready to get up and leave. Before he could do anything more than set down his cup, though, another tray was placed on the table, along with five plates. Rice dominated half of the tray, and the other half was filled with colourful cut vegetables and chunks of meat in some sort of sauce.

"Dinner, eat up," Mind said happily. No one could quite figure out how she prepared a meal so quickly.

The food, as it turned out, was fantastic. The dinner conversation, not quite so. Mostly the hosts asked about the usual things, such as where they were from and why they were traveling; then Iroh would make some excuse or another. This was going to be a long night.


	9. IX A Peaceful Moment

Chapter Nine

A Peaceful Moment

He had to get out of there. Those three, after talking about everything there is to talk about, the adults were still yammering away over tea. Zuko half expected their lips to fall off and plop into their teacups. Oh, and the conversation; it was more boring than what the politicians that visited the palace used to discuss. The boy felt the urge to put a hand to his ear, just to see if it was bleeding. _Agni, get me out of here. I knew Uncle was getting lonely just traveling with me all the time, but this is just too much._

When his uncle turned and looked at him, suggesting that he take a walk around the village, it was like his prayers had been answered. Of course, the gods are cruel, even in mercy. Iroh had suggested he take Katara with him.

So that was how, ten minutes later, the two had come to find themselves wandering around the little stone paths of the village. Most everyone was inside, drinking tea or eating dinner or preparing to go to sleep. You could tell who was awake still by the yellow light in the windows.

Their shoes clicked on the cobblestones with each step, echoing off the trees or houses or the fence surrounding the village. Every once in a while a lantern hung from a pole to light the path. After passing a few of these, they came to a small and decorated bridge over a tiny stream, one that happened to lead out past the fence and into the fields. The little bridge was painted green-yellow, but in the setting sun looked dark brown. Long shadows cast upon the ground echoed every movement as Katara leaned over one side, elbows resting on the railing, and Zuko hunched over on the opposite side sulkily. They stood there silently a long moment listening to the white noise of a little waterfall.

Katara shivered a little in a chilly breeze. Zuko noticed.

"Are you cold?" His voice didn't sound particularly caring, but it wasn't mocking.

"No," she replied stubbornly, and then took control of herself.

A short silence, and over the crickets chirping Katara asked quietly, "Do you hate me?"

"What does it matter? It's not as if you'll have to put up with me for much longer."

She sighed, "Yeah. But you'll still be trying to capture Aang. Since you don't have any affiliations with the Fire Nation, it must be because you hate him, right?"

His eyes shot wide open at the mention of his country.

"And I'm his friend," Katara continued. "So you must hate me too, right?"

"Shut up!" The sudden shout made Katara jump. "You don't know anything about that!"

For a few seconds the girl just stared at him, not knowing where the sudden anger had come from. That was what Iroh said, right? That they were no longer affiliated with the Fire Nation. At last, she turned, muttered, "Sorry," and started to walk away.

Zuko, still a bit angry-sounding but much calmer, told her, "I don't want to go back just yet."

She stopped, sighed, and sat on the railing, feet dangling above the water. For a while all that could be heard was the crickets and the water, which now seemed so loud to her that she wondered how anyone could sleep. And once again she felt her thoughts drift back to her friends, slowly, subtly, until she wondered how the worry and loneliness had crept back up on her.

Zuko stared at the reflections in the water. Tiny ripples distilled the clouds passing over a yellow moon. A few water bugs skittered about on top of the water, paired off, and hopped away to the grass that overgrew the banks and dangled into the stream. It was so quiet here, so peaceful. Did this village even know that a war was going on? Didn't they fear the Fire Nation? They hadn't even questioned whether he and Uncle were Fire Nation or not.

Or course, they had to know about the war. After a hundred years, it was impossible not to. But still they act so nice and welcoming. It would be their undoing one day. Nice people didn't survive a ruthless war.

The night had grown dark except for the little light of the moon and distant streetlights before Zuko finally said that it was time for them to head back. Katara followed his lead down the path, silent and daydreaming. That's the way the whole walk back was—Zuko in the lead staring off to the side at the village's scenery, lost in thought, and Katara zoning out.

When they reached the house, the lights were on inside and laughter could be heard. Zuko opened up the door and gave half a glance at the adults playing Pai Sho by candlelight before he stalked off to the guest room that they were staying in. Katara, who was to be sleeping in Momo's room, said goodnight to them before going to bed herself.

"My," said Ming worriedly, "It's awful early t be going to bed. I do hope everything is okay."

Iroh laughed, "I'm sure everything is fine." He paused, studying the game board, and then clicked a tile down. Over the incredulous faces of Johta and Ming, he stated modestly, "I believe I win this game. Care to play again?"

"No way," replied the man, "That's five times in a row you've beaten me!"

"Oh, I'm sure that you will win this time."

XOXOXOXOXOX

In the morning, it was decided that they'd leave after lunch, leaving plenty of time between when Katara woke up and then. Perhaps, she thought, time that could be spent checking with the villagers for signs of Aang passing through. Appa _was_ a giant furry monster with an arrow on his head, right? Pretty hard to miss that.

Of course, there was the matter of preparing for travel. She had to buy some food for herself to last on her travels, since she might not be able to catch up to her friends right away. Zuko and Iroh were in the same position.

Iroh told his nephew that he would be with Ming for a few hours, securing some of that delicious tea, and had asked Zuko to go to the market in his place to get some food for their travels. They were told that they would be given whatever they needed from the villagers if they told them Johta had sent them. The village leader did this favor for most of his guests, as it turned out, since most of the guests were penniless travelers.

This was how Katara once again found herself alone with Zuko.

It was a bustling marketplace, with venders selling foods fresh in from the fields. The two tried not to walk together too obviously, but with the same goal of grocery shopping it was rather hard not to. They bought only what was necessary, ignoring several craftsmen with odd knick knacks, which was yet another reason Zuko had gone to do the shopping instead of his uncle.

A rather scruffy looking boy with a chubby face jumped in front of Zuko and Katara and stood grinning at them, apparently missing a front tooth.

"Hi-ya!" He said in a friendly voice, shoving a piece of pair out of his face.

"Move," Zuko half-snarled at him, pushing his way past the little boy.

Katara saw his surprise and apologized, politely moving around him and past.

Catching up with the older boy, she scolded, "That wasn't nice, you know."

"Tch, so what?" He sneered, "I don't have to be nice to a peasant."

"Ugh," came her aggravated reply, "That's not the point. Can't you just be nice?"

"'Nice' is getting the supplies and getting out of here as quickly as possible." He examined some fruits before shoving them in his bad and giving a little bow to the shopkeeper. "I hate little villages like this, they're full of ignorant peasants."

"You know," she said angrily, "You're going to have bad karma with that attitude."

"Yeah, right."

"Yeah, that is right." She put a head of cabbage into her bag and paid the man, handing over a coin. "I bet that's why you twisted your ankle—karma getting back at you."

"Oh, really? If it was karma getting me back, then why were you there to heal it?"

She paused a moment and glared past the market scene. "Perhaps some foolish spirit thought you deserved a second chance."

A pause, he considered how he would reply to that or whether it would be better not to. Before he said whatever his response was, a little ping caught his attention, and a flaming arrow arched up over the fence and struck the cabbage cart they were at not a moment ago.

"MY CABBAGES!!" Screamed the cabbage merchant as the flames engulfed the cart. Zuko put out the flames with some Firebending instantly, but the produce was already incinerated into a pile of ashes.

In the next instant the fence was being a torn apart, soldiers rushed into the town and the marketplace was in chaos.

The same Fire Nation soldiers from yesterday.

"Come on," shouted Zuko as he yanked Katara into a run.

"We can't just leave them!"

"Don't be stupid, do you want to get killed?"

The girl wasn't satisfied with that. She spotted something in the sky and smirked—it was a nice, fluffy cloud.

"I don't have to be killed," she said, taking her Waterbending stance. In a feat befitting a master, she pulled the cloud over above the market, and soon rain was sprinkling down, dousing some stray flames and preventing new fires. Then she was running again, wondering if karma was out to get her or if she was just unlucky.

They found Iroh, grabbed their things, and in a minute they were gone from the village. Their best hope was to lure the soldiers away from the town.

Not ten steps from the exit did Johta and Ming's daughter appear in front of them, and the three slammed on their brakes.

"Momo…" Katara said, and wondered whether the little girl would be safe or not.

She spoke in a calm voice, which was the first time they'd really heard her speak.

"My dad told me to give you a message, and this." She handed a little piece of parchment to Iroh, and then turned to Katara. "He was asking around town this morning, and said that a tan monster was seen flying that way," she pointed at a spot in the sky, on the other side of the mountains. "He says it might be your flying bison."

Katara was instantly excited, but surprised. "How did you know I was looking for a bison?"

"I let it slip," stated Iroh kindly, "In our conversation."

The little girl nodded. "Now, go. Get out of here. We can handle the Fire Nation," she said and bowed to them before running off.

Iroh opened the folded piece of paper the girl had given him and read curiously.

"Iroh

My wife and I were pleased to have you over. I'm sorry you had to leave like this, but we wish you safe travel. Don't worry about the soldiers, we still have a few Earthbenders in the village, and I'm sure we can take them.

Safe travel, Johta."

It felt wrong to leave, but they'd been reassured the village was able to handle it. This couldn't be the first time they encountered the Fire Nation. And so, they left the scene, heading for their next destination.


	10. X Hello Again

Chapter Ten

Hello Again

It was just about noon, and even up in the mountains the air was beginning to heat up. It was a nice day, with hardly a cloud at all in the sky and birds singing sweetly. It would be a perfect day if no for the events of that morning staining the whole thing. And they were still trying to figure out why.

"How do those soldiers keep finding us," questioned Katara angrily, wishing the trees would answer her. "And why us? What do they want?"

The two males in the group stopped walking when they heard the girl say this and turned to face her, their expressions displaying the same thing as hers.

"I don't know why," began Iroh. "I'm not even certain if it is you or us that they are after."

Zuko nodded. "Then the best thing to do is split up." 

"Aw, that's a shame," came a voice from above. Hanging from the branch of a tree, the person they least expected jumped down, swinging around the tree trunk to slow his momentum, and landed softly on he ground. "After all the trouble we went through to find you, too."

Three others went through the same routine of getting down to the ground, and the Wind Rebels stood in front of them.

Seeing Zuko getting ready to fight, Taru stated calmly, "Relax. We're not here to fight."

Katara didn't know whether to get out her bending water or listen to what they had to say; although when she saw the blonde one, Binh, wink at her and grin, she felt an inclination towards the former.

"So, why did you follow us here?"

"Back at the complex, we thought the Firebenders were trying to help you, but it seems they've been trying to kill you. Any enemy of the Fire Nation is a friend of ours!"

"And just why should we trust you?" Zuko's eyes scanned the boy's face for any signs that he was lying.

One of the other rebels reached behind them and took something out, an action Katara caught out of the corner of her eye. Arash had a bow out and an arrow in his hand. Before she could move, he had taken aim and fired.

"Hey!" She cried out as the arrow whizzed toward her. She felt a gust of wind as it passed her by and shot through some undergrowth. Whatever it hit groaned and fell down with a soft thud.

"Relax," Taru said and went over to it, pushing aside a few plants so everyone could see. A man in camouflage lie on the ground, face down in the dirt, an arrow through his chest. Taru yanked off the man's cloak, revealing a red uniform underneath. "It was just a scout. But this means they're done with the village." He locked eyes with Zuko, "Reason enough?"

The boy glanced over to his Uncle; giving him a look meaning he wanted his opinion on it. The older man thought it over, glaring at the dead scout, and quickly made up his mind.

"It's agreed, then," he said. "We're allies."

"Good," agreed the green-eyed boy. "Now all we need is a plan."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Up past the treetops Katara could see the stars sparkling. The sky looked like a sheet of black silk covered with a hundred fireflies. The only thing to be heard was the sound of sleep as her newfound allies rested for the day ahead. The excitement buzzed about her head too much to allow her to sleep, so even though she hadn't been the one to draw the short straw for guard duty, she laid awake anyway, staring at the stars.

In fact, the only one in the campsite awake other than Katara was the one who'd drawn the short straw. After cursing his luck under his breath, he'd dedicated himself to the job admirably. Of course, this was Zuko on guard duty.

Suddenly the silence hit a spot in her mind, compelling her to speak to him; anything to break the heaviness of the air.

In a hushed voice the girl got his attention. "Hey," she said, "Why don't you let me take over your shift? I can't sleep, anyway."

"It's fine," he said, "I can't sleep either."

Something in his voice made her not believe him.

"No, really. You've been doing that half the night. I can handle it, you should get some rest."

"I drew the short straw," Zuko said with resolve, "I'm doing it."

She decided not to push any further, and took up staring at the back of his head. "Fine." She hadn't noticed before, strange that she see it now that it's so dark you almost can't see, Zuko had cut his hair. Of course, she'd seen his hair plenty of times in the past few days, but the change hadn't sunk in until know. She'd always found his topknot interesting and exotic, much different than the haircuts back home. Why'd he cut it?

When a yawn snuck up on her and escaped, at last did she decide to try to get some shut-eye.

"Good night," Katara told him, and when she heard Zuko mutter a response she laid down on the grass, using her hands as pillows.

He's so quiet, I wonder what he's thinking about… 

XOXOXOXOXOX

It was morning. Zuko had switched with Binh a few hours after Katara fell asleep, but that still only made for less than half a night's rest. It was fine, though; tonight he could sleep plenty, after all of this was done.

At dawn the plan had been explained in detail to everyone. It was a good plan, really. It was quite clever, provided it worked. There were a lot of uncertainties; a lot of things could go wrong. But if they pulled it off, the battle would be as good as won.

The first step was to find a suitable place and leave a trail of breadcrumbs to it, so to speak. The fine soldiers of the Fire Nation were sure to be able to follow their little path of broken twigs displaced leaves. What they were looking for was specifically a nice open area, surrounded by forest. Having some source of water nearby was the deciding factor, since there were an abundance of sizeable clearings.

What they finally settled on was an old farming field. It looked abandoned, with grass and weeds overgrowing the soil, and was encircled by plenty of woods. As a final touch, there was an old irrigation pond right next to it, which meant Katara would be a major factor in the fight.

Now for step two.

Wood was brought and a fire was lit. Katara got out the fish she'd caught and gave it to Iroh, who speared it on a stick and sat roasting it over the campfire. All the others rushed over to their hiding spots to sit and wait for the prey to take the bait.

Zuko and Katara shared a hiding place, since they had to appear at the same time and location. Theirs was behind a fallen tree, and provided a clear view of the clearing and quick exit while still keeping out of sight. They didn't know where the Wind Rebels had hidden, but it was probably on the other side of the field.

The smoke from the roasting fish drifted up into the sky and the delicious smell spread out on the wind. Those soldiers were certain to smell that and find Iroh. If the old man just acted like the fish was his lunch that he'd just caught, the soldiers would be just a little suspicious of him; then everything would be set up just perfectly. This was an easy task for the man who drove his nephew crazy with his ham acting and exaggerations.

Now all that was left to do was to watch and wait.

Minutes passed. Crouched down in the leaves and dirt, Katara began to get fidgety. She took a strand of her hair and twirled it around a bit. She glanced over at the boy beside her. Zuko was sitting perfectly still, with his back straight, and she wondered how he could sit like that for so long. For some reason it really made him look tall.

He caught her staring at him and turned to look back, so that their eyes locked for a heart-pounding moment. Then, she could have sworn, he gave a microsecond smile.

"You ready," he whispered. "They're here."

The soft thumps that she'd taken to be her heartbeat were the footsteps of the red-uniformed soldiers they'd been waiting for. On cue they were on the side of the field towards Zuko and Katara, standing before Iroh in formation. At the front stood the brown-haired leader, the one without the mask.


	11. XI Lucky End

Chapter Eleven

Lucky End

"Well, well," the leader said amusedly. "General Iroh." He approached the old man somewhat cautiously as if expecting a surprise, and when he inspected the area prudently and found none he focused his attention back to the man.

"Hmph," Iroh half-laughed. "All these years and you're still the same as ever, Hamaji. Would you like some fish?"

"You don't have time for fish. You're coming with us."

Slowly Iroh stood up, stretched his arms into the air, and yawned. "There's always time for fish."

Narrowing his eyes, the young man questioned suspiciously, "What are you up to, old man? Or has the Great Dragon of the West really lost a few steps?"

Zuko took this as the cue and silently began the countdown.

Iroh grinned, hamming it up. "You think too highly of me, Hamaji."

The count reached zero, and the two jumped up and hurdled over the log, then they were out in the open.

Katara bended a good deal of water from the pond into a water whip and began whacking off the surprised soldiers. One man grabbed his pole arm and charged at her, only to have the girl split it down the middle with her Waterbending and whip him in the head. He fell down, unconscious, the remains of the spear landing on top of him.

Iroh took this opportunity to land a blow to he distracted leader, zapping him with lightening speed in a fire blast to the chest.

The man picked himself up, shaking off the minor injury; his armor had blocked the brunt of the attack. "This is your plan, huh? Two kids hiding in the bushes. Really, I expected better of my father's former teacher."

He gave a little shrug. "It will be enough for you."

The old man and the colonel locked eyes in a standoff, both benders tensed to attack. A stray shot of fire from the commotion of the surrounding battle blazed past between the two of them, and like a starting gun they engaged in battle.

A shot here, a block there, and it looked like an even match. Neither made any hits, and neither received any. However, after a few minutes, the eventual results became apparent as Iroh switched more and more to defense.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"Hey," whispered the black-haired girl to her friends, "Should we start now? They're pretty distracted."

"Yeah," Taru told her and the other two boys, "See whom you can pick off without being spotted." The four of them then readied their arrows and took aim.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Meanwhile Zuko and Katara struggled with the quantity of Fire Nation soldiers. Katara proved to be at her limit when her attention broke for a moment. A keen-eyed Fire soldier took this opportunity to launch a sneak attack while she ad her back turned. Carefully the red0uniformed man took aim and launched a fire blast at her.

Zuko, beating around his own lot of enemies, saw the man's intent as he took a stance all too familiar to Zuko from his days of Firebending training at the palace, where he'd seen his younger prodigy of a sister practicing it. He took off running, shoving aside a couple of soldiers to clear the way. "Move!"

As Katara heard him shout, she turned around and saw the fire come at her. It was no use; she couldn't dodge in time.

All at once her companion slammed into her, knocking her to the ground and out of the way of the fire, while Zuko took the brunt of the attack with his shoulder.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Iroh landed with an, "Oof," on his backside after a particularly aggressive attack from his opponent, who then held him at fire point. In the background, Zuko and Katara were clearly finished, as she looked with concern to the bow as he held a bloody right shoulder.

"You may be a better Firebender than me, old man, but age was your downfall tonight. Men, finish them!" Silence, as no one moved, and the colonel looked around expectantly. "Men," he began to re-command them impatiently, but was met dumbstruck, as every last one of the soldiers had been laid out flat on the ground.

"Hi," said a certain hyperactive rebel as he stood in the background of the carnage with two of his friends.

Hamaji turned around in confusion and smacked into the rebel leader. "Remember me?" He said coldly as he slapped a pair of Earth-style handcuffs on him. "You and your men ruined my headquarters."

The boy turned to Iroh and said with the ever-so-slightest hint of compassion, "We can take it from here."

The old general stood up weakly. "Thank you. I wonder where that fish went…" Looking around, he spotted it on the ground a few yards away, trampled, filthy, and scorched black. "Such a shame…" he said with a little tear.

"Well, you're obviously okay," Zuko said flatly, "If you have the energy to cry over a fish."

He stood up, flinched, and grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't move," scolded Katara as she gathered up a bit of water in her hands. "Here, let me help." She put her hands over the wound and began to heal it.

"Thanks," he said hesitantly. Not long later Katara was finished and Zuko examined his shoulder. With an amazed look on his face he commended, "Now even a scar."

She, too, looked over her work. At the same time they looked up and found themselves looking into each other's eyes.

"What's that?" Maylin shouted, pointing up at a tan beast flying above the clouds. The two whipped their heads up, using their hands to shield their eyes from the sun.

Happily, Katara exclaimed, "Aang!" However, they were too high p to hear or see her, and Appa continued flying.

"That's your ride," Zuko said and grabbed her hand, forcing her to run. "I think it's landing up ahead!"

As soon as she was running with him he let go of her hand and they chased after it. Indeed, the bison began slowly descending. They slowed to a jog and after it landed they stopped a few hundred feet away.

Between catching his breath, the young man told her, "You go on from here. They can't see me with you."

She considered this. "You're right." Katara leaned in and surprised him with a quick kiss on the check. "Thank you."

Then she ran towards the bison's landing site cheerfully. "Aang, Sokka, Toph!" She parted aside some bushes and was out in the open.

"Katara," said Sokka, astonished. "Katara!"

They ran together and everyone joined in a group hug. "I missed you guys so much," she said gladly, squeezing them tight. Momo landed on her head, trilling happily.

"Where'd you go," asked Aang in a worried tone.

"Yeah, we thought those soldiers got you."

"Sokka wanted to charge into the Fire Nation and beat them all up," laughed Toph.

She sniffed back a tear. "I'm just so glad to be back."

Zuko watched their little reunion and then turned around to meet back up with his uncle. Holding a hand to his cheek, he murmured softly, "Yeah. I'm glad you're back, too."

End

A/n: Hope you all liked the finale; it was kind of hard to write all that action. In total, this story summed fifty-five handwritten pages, and spanned over three months. Please review, and tell me what you liked and what you didn't. Thank you all for reading!


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